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Google Is Not Moving to the Mission (Not That It Matters)

The internet has been ablaze with grievances over the news that Google is opening a 200-person office at 16th and Harrison (or, as one tipster pointed out, “look on the bright side, they’ll be right next to Dear Mom”). The new building was reportedly purchased as “something cool” for Google’s new acquisitions, prompting SFist to declare “The Mission is over.”

But fortunately for the Mission’s alt relevance, SocketSite has confirmed that “Google has not signed a lease nor purchased the building.”

In fact, the building at 298 Alabama is currently undergoing renovations with plans to subdivide the space for multiple tenants. And while numerous parties have expressed interest, not a single lease has been signed nor negotiated, not by Google nor by any of their acquisitions.

However, does any of this really matter? While having The Face of Everything Wrong With Silicon Valley out of the neighborhood ostensibly seems like a good thing, it doesn’t change the fact tech firms are creeping beyond SOMA. HTC was found to be expanding onto York St. two weeks ago, a sales CRM startup moved into the space that Million Fishes Arts Collective was evicted from last fall, and well-funded startups move into warehouse spaces all the time.

If people are concerned about the corporate homogenization of the Mission, they have to realize Google is just riding a trend.

Comments (7)

If people want to get upset about a phenomenon that is actually happening in our real universe, the tech development that has already happened/continues to happen in the area between where Zynga is in SOMA to where Adobe is in Mission Bay has been probably been helping keep up rents in the east and south Mission for a couple years now.

Also, Kevin, FYI, the new page inexplicably errored out (on iOS) the first time I posted this. Otherwise the mobile version of the new template looks great!

I wonder why people don’t take advantage of the low rents in the Excelsior. I’m getting sick of my current place on 24th, and while the rent is pretty good (rent control), I want something bigger. For some reason I had no idea that traveling that far down Mission resulted in prices basically unheard of in SF.

I want to just wait for rent to drop as I still really love 24th street. I believe, potentially naively, that rents can’t rise too much higher than they are currently. If we are talking about wealthy tech kids in the mid 20s paying these extravagant prices, then we are at just about the limit of their wealth. I have a friend at Google making about 100-110k a year, that menas he can afford a maximum of around 3k a month for rent. If rent goes beyond that then he will be priced out of the mission also.

I have faith that once we start producing housing prices will fall, unless we produce the bare minimum such that new demand is always not quite to just barely satiated, causing rents to stay stagnant or rise mildly each year. We need to streamline the process and produce ample housing, of course this is SF…

The Mission has been over for a while now, unless you’re they type who likes strutting into Tacolicious in your Betabrand gluttony pants. Google won’t come to the Mission, because they are SCARED to come to the Mission.